FOREWORD
BLESSED are the Peacemakers! That is perhaps the
reflection that comes uppermost in one's mind when
considering the life and work of that great soul Fer-
dinand de Lesseps. He was a Frenchman; and it is a
signal honour to France that she produced such a son.
But De Lesseps was not only a Frenchman, he was a
world citizen. His whole career was devoted to the
service of humanity. In these days of narrow nation-
alism and party allegiances it is good to think on such
a man.
It has been a pleasure to write this biography, not
only because its subject is a person whom one can
admire unrestrainedly, but because to see for awhile
with his vision is to recapture something of one's youth-
ful idealism and to have one's hope in humanity
restored. While men of his type are born into the
world we need have no fears for civilisation.
The life of Ferdinand de Lesseps was full, active and
useful. He was a practical man of affairs as well as a
dreamer. There was nothing of the ascetic about him:
he was gay, witty, and charming, enjoying the good
things, both a sportsman and a cavalier. He loved his
home and his children. He radiated sympathy and
helpfulness, so that people of all conditions turned to
him naturally in trouble. Adventure was the spice of
life to him, and he could never complain of the lack of
it. One would not for a moment present him as fault-
less : his deficiencies were plain and, indeed, to incor-
rigibly adult minds distinctly irritating, for here was a
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